Past Peacebuilding Activities

The Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice has worked to promote sustainable peace with justice all over the world. Here are a few summaries of our work.

Colombia

The institute’s work in Colombia, which has been in violent conflict for over 50 years, took the form of policy advocacy for an inclusive peace process. The institute published a series of op-ed and analytical pieces on the Colombian peace process in multiple news outlets in 2011 and 2012, as well as two Peace and Justice Policy Briefs.

West Africa

The West African Human Rights Training Initiative was a 2010-12 regional partnership between the Institute for Peace and Justice, the Open Society Initiative for West Africa and leading human rights organizations in the Mano River region (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire). The initiative strengthened the ability of select human rights organizations to pressure their governments for reform and accountability by engaging in a three-step process of human rights investigation, report writing and advocacy. Contact Assistant Professor Dustin Sharp for more information on the project.

Guatemala

The Legal Empowerment in Quiché Project in Guatemala was a collaboration between the Institute for Peace and Justice and the Barbara Ford Peace Center, and was funded from 2010 to 2013 by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. The project assisted indigenous people in the Department of Quiché to exercise their civil and political rights through non-traditional legal empowerment approaches.

Philippines

Between 2009 and 2011, the institute worked with local partner organization, the Mindanao Peoples Caucus (led by Woman PeaceMaker Mary Ann Arnado), to bring international attention to the peace process on the southern island, and to give a platform for youth and women’s voices from the conflict. Institute staff participated in the International Solidarity Conference on Mindanao and Mindanao Peace Power Day in 2009. The following year, the IPJ interviewed grassroots youth leaders on the state of peace and conflict in Mindanao for a WorldLink video, and gave presentations and workshops across the island. Read more about the second summit of the Women PeaceMakers Asia Regional Network, convened in the Philippines in 2011.

Uganda

Beginning in 2004, the institute was involved in the peace process to end the war in northern Uganda, and in 2006 staff members served as election observers to the presidential and parliamentary elections. Read our former executive director's testimony on Uganda before the U.S. Senate in 2005.